Monday, November 10, 2008

MSCR: Total Drama Island

It's time once again for Monkey Sri's Cartoon Round-Up! Today I'll be blogging about Total Drama Island, a cartoon parody of Survivor-type reality shows. It details the adventures of eighteen teenagers at Camp Wawanakwa, the summer camp from hell. Every episode the campers are faced with a new challenge - often something reminiscent of Fear Factor.

The theme song, "I Wanna Be Famous," is nothing short of inspired.

There are a couple of things that make this show way better than actual reality TV. For one, creators don't have to worry about safety issues. And neither do we - it's easier to enjoy death-defying stunts when it's not a real person on the line. Secondly, the online content is pretty impressive. Website visitors can create their own avatar and play games based on each week's episode. At the end of the season the top twenty-two scorers will be entered into a drawing, and their avatar will be edited into the season finale. Lastly, the characters on TDI are about a thousand times more likable than any reality show star. Even the bitchy ones.

Still, Heather better not win.

Fair warning, the show originally aired in Canada, so internet spoilers abound. On the upside, a sequel is already slated for Spring 2009: Total Drama Action. Fifteen campers will return, and this time the battleground will be a deserted studio lot. It will be interesting to see how that show shapes up. Until then, you can enjoy TDI Thursdays at 9pm on Cartoon Network.